Ever since we gave up cable four years ago, we’ve been thinking about getting a TV antenna so we could at least get the free basic channels. We never actually pulled the trigger because we were happy with the DVDs we were getting from the library.
After we depleted our DVD stash during the coronavirus quarantine, however, we finally decided to give the antenna a shot. Getting up and running had some false starts and other problems, but the end result was worth the effort.
Setting Up the Antenna
My dad bought a Magnavox digital antenna from Family Dollar for $13. While he primarily chose this particular antenna because it was the only one left on the shelf, I’m sure the name brand didn’t hurt. My dad swears by the Magnavox brand. Many of our electronics, including our current TV, are or have been from Philips Magnavox. He likes their quality and durability.
As is our custom when new electronics enter the house, my dad handed the antenna off to me to set up. Even though I have zero experience working with TV stuff, I was excited to give it a whirl.
The instruction booklet said to put the antenna in “a location near a window” for the best results. However, the side of the entertainment unit closest to the glass patio door is too tall to accommodate the antenna with its rabbit ears fully extended. The antenna’s cord wasn’t long enough to reach the TV from that height either. The best I could do was sit it on the unit’s sunken middle section.
From there, I slid our TV off the shelf so I could reach the inputs on its back and plugged in the antenna. Once I connected the two, however, there was no signal. My dad checked my work and confirmed that I had plugged everything in correctly. We were stumped.
Eventually, I learned through an article from How Stuff Works that the problem was with our 20-year-old TV. It needs an antenna and a digital converter box to receive over-the-air channels. We were missing the converter box piece.
At this point, I was ready to call it a day. We had already “wasted” $13. I was afraid to spend more money on another device, especially when I wasn’t sure it would work. My mom agreed. But my dad felt that we “might as well see this thing through.” He told me to order a converter box.
Setting Up the Converter Box
That night, I went into research mode to find a good converter box. I had three basic requirements: 1) it needed to work with our TV, 2) it had to look nice, and 3) it couldn’t cost more than $35. I also didn’t want anything too cheap or refurbished.
I consulted an article from Lifewire that laid out the best converter boxes for different purposes to get a feel for features to look for. Ultimately, I chose the Mediasonic Homeworx HW130STB. That exact model wasn’t on Lifewire’s list, but it was designated as “Amazon’s Choice” and satisfied all of my requirements. Moreover, its $29.99 price tag allowed us to get free shipping.
The converter box arrived two days later, on a Saturday. Once again, I thought the setup would be easy. I sat on the floor beside the TV (which we hadn’t put back), plugged the antenna into the converter box, plugged the converter box into the TV, and turned everything on. Once again, I was wrong. Still no signal.
Some googling turned up an article from the FCC that explained different ways to set up an antenna and converter box based on your TV’s inputs. My mom even found a bag of various cable cords and splitters she had collected over the years that I could try. Neither the scenarios nor the cords worked.
In a last ditch effort, I stole the coaxial cable from our combination DVD/VHS player. Unlike the cords in the bag, I knew it was the right wire, and I knew it worked. I followed the first scenario from the FCC instructions again and voila! The snow turned into a live channel. I don’t think I’ve ever cheered so loudly.
Watching TV
The antenna/converter box setup was an instant success. We currently get about 60 channels. As promised, we have all the major networks. Well, almost. NBC and Me-TV (which shows old sitcoms and dramas) refuse to come in most of the time. PBS and FOX were equally elusive for a bit, but they eventually popped up.
We’re happy with the selection. My dad loves REV’N’s classic car coverage, my mom enjoys the retro game show channel Buzzr, and I binge true crime stuff on Justice. While I could rescan for more channels, I think I’ll leave well enough alone. The last time I rescanned, we lost more channels than we gained.
Admittedly, the channels were confusing to navigate at first. The built-in TV guide shows one name and the channel calls itself something totally different. Everyone knows the local names and call numbers for the biggies in their area. For example, WOFL is Fox 35 and WKCF/CW18 is The CW in Orlando. But the other channels were a mystery. I mean, WHDO is obviously related to REV’N, right? I made a name reference chart to sort things out.
The name problem is exacerbated by the fact that one channel can unexpectedly change into a different one. Antenna TV, another channel that shows older sitcoms, used to switch off with CourtTV throughout the day. Suddenly, CourtTV completely took over the channel. That was a few weeks ago and Antenna TV is still MIA. Who knows if it will ever change back.
The channel names are minor issues compared to the how finicky the signal can be. Reception changes wildly from moment to moment, channel to channel. When the signal is strong, the picture is perfect. The other times? The audio falls out of sync with the visuals, or the picture pixelates badly. We spend a lot of time adjusting the antenna’s rabbit ears. I’ve even held the antenna wire in my hands just to get through a show once or twice.
We’ve learned a few tricks to improve the signal. Most notably, we discovered that propping the antenna up on a stack of VHS tapes and angling the whole thing towards the patio door gets us great reception. Moving the antenna towards the very front or very back of the shelf also helps. There’s nothing to be done when it rains, though.
Using The DVR
Surprisingly, the converter box, the Mediasonic Homeworx, has a DVR feature (called a “PVR” here). There’s a USB port on the front of the converter box where you can plug in an external hard drive to hold the recordings.
The PVR worked well when I briefly tested it. After you plug in the hard drive, you can either schedule a recording through the menu or press Record on the remote to start recording the current channel. The Homeworx names the resulting .mts video file with the channel name, date, and time. Then it puts them in a folder called “HBPVR” on the hard drive. You can even watch the files on the computer.
I haven’t been using the PVR much for two reasons.
First, the PVR records exactly what it sees. If the channel has bad reception, all of that static and blinking out shows up in the video file. The hard drive can also contribute to the problem. If I place it on a separate shelf instead of right next to the converter box on top of the TV, the channel will pixelate. I guess the hard drive’s churning jars the wires or the box too much. Since I can’t predict how a channel will perform, I’m hesitant to record anything. Waking up to an unwatchable video would give me the rage.
Second, the recordings are large files. The Homeworx’s Amazon page is upfront about this, saying that one hour equals 8 GB. I recorded about about two minutes of a show and the file was 113 MB. I’m not equipped to store files this size. I only have one 320 GB external hard drive that’s already over half full. I’ll have to buy a drive just for the PVR.
Conclusion
I’ve been incredibly happy with the antenna and converter box. It’s nice to turn on the TV and watch whatever’s on, even if it’s just reruns of Jerry Springer. No lie, I barely slept for the first week after we bought the devices. I was addicted to the TV. I had to watch all the things! I’ve settled down now.
My parents are equally enchanted with the setup…to the point that we had to establish a very rigid schedule so everyone gets a turn to watch something. We’ll definitely have to buy a second set of devices for our other TVs.
Update 3/12/23:
Both the converter box and the antenna are dead.
The converter box stopped working in October 2022. There was a short in the power cord that caused the box to keep rebooting itself. The box’s remote also failed. All of the buttons on the left side stopped working, and the ones on the right were quickly joining the party. Instead of replacing the box, we bought a new TV, which doesn’t require a digital converter box.
Meanwhile, the antenna broke in March 2023. The rabbit ears had become loose from constantly being adjusted. Our cat, Ren, finished it off when she swatted at one. Broke it clean off. We replaced the antenna with another one of the same model.